Lost 6kg in 4 months – now stuck at one weight – help!

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Lost 6kg in 4 months – now stuck at one weight – help!

This topic contains 5 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by  franfit 10 years, 6 months ago.

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  • Hi guys,

    I’m new to the forum, but began the 5:2 in August 2013. By December 2013, I had lost 6 kgs of my 10 kg goal (I’m 47 years old, 5 feet 2 and 60 kgs) and was thrilled to regain control of my body. Between being of “that” age and having a mom and two sisters who are hypothyroid, I’ve always been a careful eater, believing in balanced and healthy eating, but this diet opened up a new world for me. A world where I didn’t have to constantly watch my food and could go back to enjoying chocolate and cheese and butter – things I’d almost forgotten the taste of.

    Despite feasting on 5 days, I lost weight steadily due to very strict 500 calorie fasts on my fasting days. Then in Jan 2014, my darling little pup got run over and in Feb, I got sick from some local bug that knocked me out for a month, and while sick, I put back on 1.5kgs of the lost 6 kgs. I’ve worked hard to get rid of those gained kgs and got back to 60 kgs by April.
    But in the last six weeks, despite following the same diet in the exact same way and even ramping up to a 4:3 in the hope of triggering some weight loss, my weight has stayed constant at 60 kgs. I’m also no longer losing any inches. My blood work shows a slightly lowered cholestrol but elevated triglycerides. I have stopped feasting on feast days (though I don’t eyeball my food for calories – thats the whole point of this diet, right?) and still try the occasional 4:3 week, but its like I’ve reached a wall.

    Anyone else out there with similar issues? Anyone who hit a plateau and couldn’t get off it after a significant loss? I was so happy with my weight loss – my ideal weight for my height should be 55 kgs, and I just have that last mile to cross, but I’m so close to giving up. I expected to lose at least 2 kgs more in the last 6 weeks, but the scale is stuck at 60. Any advice, personal experience (or generally soothing noises) will be so appreciated!

    Momsikins of a certain age

    Hi Momsikins, I’m a 57 year old woman who also started in August 2013. When my weight loss has stalled, I’ve had success in getting it re-started by increasing the amount of walking I do. I have gotten up to an average of about 10,000 steps per day by walking for transportation — to work, to the store, etc. So far I’ve lost 37 pounds in 37 weeks, from 157 to 120 pounds (71.2 kg to 54.4 kg — I have a very small frame). Elevated triglycerides can possibly mean too much sugar or beer, if that is a clue for you. I hope one of these ideas can help.

    Hi mom:

    “(though I don’t eyeball my food for calories – thats the whole point of this diet, right?)”

    You don’t have to worry about calories on 5:2 – unless you are not losing weight. Then calories become important.

    This might help: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/on-plateaus/

    Good Luck!

    Thanks Franfit – how do you do it!! Do you watch what you eat on non fast days? Maybe its the sugar? I’ll try removing/reducing that, but to me, that was the joy of this diet! Simcoeluv, I’ve read everything on plateaus, and you’ve written a lot on there, thanks. If you can think of anything else, anyone, do let me know.

    Jyoti

    Congratulation both of you for your weight lost, also when there is(was) a plateau. Your stories are very motivating. I have lost about 3 kg in 6 weeks 5:2 now and there are about 7 kilos to go.
    Momsikins wish you all the best for hitting the plateau!

    Momsikins, I don’t count calories on non-fast days, but I do try to be careful not to undo the hard work of my fasting days. I mostly just ask myself how hungry I really am before I serve myself some food, and if my eyes were bigger than my stomach, I’ll wrap up what’s left and put it in the fridge for later. I no longer finish that last 1/4 cup of whatever that’s leftover in the pan or serving dish at the end of dinner — if I don’t want to save it for leftovers, I have to accept that it’s either going to waste or going to waist (mine!). I have looked up the calorie content of some foods and am careful with the higher-calorie ones, either measuring out my portion or serving myself less or skipping them altogether (like my thick slices of bakery whole-wheat bread — 247 calories per 100 grams — eek! it’s got to be that *or* the scoop of ice cream, not both!) All that said, anything that I really want to eat, I eat. If my son makes homemade pizza, I happily eat my serving. Yum. But he doesn’t make pizza 5 nights a week. And I walk a lot more. More than twice as much as I did before. Oh, also triglycerides can be up because of other high-glycemic carbs like bread. I am starting to think that people who are not losing weight in spite of IF or calorie restriction might have a problem with carb metabolism/high insulin levels or gluten sensitivity or both. But the most common things are actually underestimating the amount of calories in or overestimating the amount of activity in daily life.

    When I’ve hit weight-loss stalls of a couple of weeks, I’ve made sure I was taking a long walk most days of the week and been patient, since my doctor told me that these kinds of plateaus are normal in weight loss, and, if you keep on doing what you know works for you, weight loss will usually start back up again.

    But if I was doing what I’ve always done and stopped losing weight, the first thing I would do is see if I was over-eating or under-exercising for my new, lower weight; I would re-calculate my TDEE, count actual calories for a week, log my pedometer steps, re-adjust my activity level in the TDEE calculator.

    If *that* didn’t work, I’d have to think about trying a month restricting high-glycemic carbs and/or gluten (since restricting high-glycemic carbs effectively restricts a lot of gluten-containing foods, the two issues can get confused, so I might try restricting gluten without restricting other carbs first, and try restricting all high-glycemic carbs only if that didn’t work).

    All of this involves work, can be a bit of a project, can be downright annoying. So it depends on how much you want to reach your goal.

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